Jerusalem,
Israel --- April 7, 2013 Part of the following was communicated
by the Israel Prime Minister's Office to the Israel News Agency.

The official
Opening Ceremony for Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes
Remembrance Day in Israel will take place on Sunday, April 7,
2013 at 20:00, in Warsaw Ghetto Square, Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial,
Mount of Remembrance, Jerusalem.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this morning (Sunday,
7 April 2013), made the following remarks at the start of the
weekly Cabinet meeting:

"We have
a deep obligation to the elderly in general and to Holocaust survivors
in particular, first of all to their welfare and also to their
security. Today, the Israeli Cabinet will approve a proposal formulated
by myself and Israel Finance Minister Yair Lapid on the addition
of NIS 50 million to the social welfare fund for the elderly and
for Holocaust survivors, and I asked that an additional NIS 15
million be allocated for medicines, to make things easier for
them. These people survived the horrors of the Holocaust. They
participated in Israel's wars. They built the State of Israel;
they are witnesses to our revival. Our obligation to them is that
we will do all that is necessary. Israel is giving today and we
will add whatever is necessary."

"The Holocaust will not sink into the dark hole of history.
It is here with us, burning, real," said President Shimon
Peres.

"It resonates as we step on the stones of the ghettos. It
floats like a ghost in the barracks of the camps. It cries from
the prayer shawls, the hair, the shoes that we see with our own
eyes. It whispers from the tears that dried before we said goodbye.
It is reflected in the photographs of the babies in their mothers'
arms. The noise of those murderous trains which have ceased stills
rings in our ears. The smoke which has not faded as it drifted
into the sky above. Survivors walk among us, the Holocaust and
its horrors are with them every day. Their blood flows through
our veins."

Peres adds:
"The world must ask itself how a regime such as that in Iran
can deny the Holocaust and threaten a new Holocaust so soon after
six million people lost their lives. The threat of a Holocaust
against one people is a threat of a Holocaust on all people."

A group
of Jewish children just before they were executed
by a Nazi Einsatzkommando (Mobile Killing Unit).

Avner Shalev,
Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate, will kindle the Memorial
Torch. Aliza Vitis-Shomron will speak on behalf of the survivors.
Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird will attend the event.

During the ceremony, Holocaust survivors will light six torches.
First torch: the late Peretz Hochman (who passed away a few days
ago; his widow Sima will light the torch), second torch: Otto
Dov Pressburger, third torch: Dina Ostrover, fourth torch: Eliezer
Eizenschmidt, fifth torch: Miriam Liptcher,sixth torch: Baruch
Kopold. During the ceremony, short videos about each of the torchlighters
will be shown (produced and directed by Levi Zini).

The traditional memorial service will take place during the ceremony.
The Rishon LeZion Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Shlomo Amar will
recite Psalms. The Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yona Metzger will
recite Kaddish. El Maleh Rahamim, a Jewish prayer for the souls
of the martyrs, will be recited by Cantor Azi Schwartz.

Participants in the ceremony include singer David D'Or and the
Youth Movement Choir as well as the IDF Paratroopers Honor
Guard. Narrative piece: actor Ishai Golan. The evenings
MC will be Oshrat Kotler.

The ceremony will be broadcast live on television on Israel TV
Channels 1, 2, 10 and 33, and channel 9 in Russian, and for the
first time on JLTV
in the United States, and by radio on Kol Israel and Galei Zahal.
It will last about one hour and a quarter.

At 22:00 a special radio program entitled Shoah, Heroism
and Definitions that will explore the essence of heroism
during the Holocaust, will air on Galei Zahal. The program will
be presented by Ehud Graff and is a joint program of Yad Vashem
and Galei Zahal (Army Radio).

Yad Vashem will be closed to the public as of 12 noon on April
7. It will re-open on Monday, April 8, at 8:00 a.m.

Yad Vashem calls on the public to fill in Pages of Testimony to
commemorate the names of Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Volunteers
are available to help Holocaust survivors fill out Pages of Testimony
(in Israel please call: 02 6443111). At the same time, Yad Vashem
is continuing the Gathering the Fragments campaign
in an effort to rescue Holocaust-related documents, artifacts,
photographs and art.

To donate
material to Yad Vashem, call (in Israel) 1-800-25-7777. The oral
history department continues to film survivor testimonies. Yad
Vashem personnel travel to interview and film survivors in their
own homes; the testimonies are housed in the Yad Vashem Archives.
To coordinate (in Israel): testimonies@yadvashem.org.il

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